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LITTLE LUCIA’S 
ISLAND CAMP 


BY THE SAME AUTHOR 


Little LuaA 

The first of the Little Lucia stories. 
“Written for children, but older folk 
will find real joy, and have a better 
view of life after reading it.”— The 
Ne^ivs (Denver). 

Little Lucia and Her Puppy 
“Anyone who ever had a beloved 
and troublesome puppy will treasure 
it.”— The Woman Citizen. 

Dr. Tam O’Shanter 
“Soundly doggy, a worthy addition 
to the select company of animals in 
fiction.”— The Literary Re<vie‘W. 


E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY 










mill**' 






jliVaShcruDod Urit^hT 















Even Laddie picked up a strawberry box in his mouth. 

(Chapter VIII) 


\ 




















LITTLE yJCIA’S 
ISLAND CAMP 

BY 

MABEL L/UOBINSON 

AUTHOR OF “little LUCIi^r“LITTLE LUCTA AND 
HER PUPPY,” ETC. 



NEW YORK 

E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY 


68i FIFTH AVENUE 


Copyright, 1924 



BY E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY 


All Rights Reserved 


Ftkited in «he UWted States of America 


OCT 18 ’?4 

©C1A80839S 


^V^ 1 



The Real Brother 

JAMES 





CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 

I. Laddie Goes into Training . 



PAGE 

1 

II. 

The Start. 



9 

III. 

Moon Island, Ahoy! . 



• 17 

IV. 

Peek! Peek! Peek! 



26 

V. 

A Sandpiper Parade 



• 33 

VI. 

Little Lucia Digs Clams 



. 42 

VII. 

Laddie to the Rescue 



. 50 

VIII. 

The Trip to the Mainland . 



60 

IX. 

The Trail to Indian Head . 



. 70 

X. 

Sheep Island Camp 



. 81 

XI. 

Out on a Moonlight Night . 



. 94 

XII. 

The Trip Home .... 



. 107 







.1 

1 


I 


J 


i 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Even Laddie picked up a strawberry box in his 


mouth. Frontispiece 

PACTNG PACE 

“Are you sure,’' asked Daddy, looking at Laddie, 

“are you sure he won’t tip us all over?” . . 12 


“She’s taking her brand new babies out for a walk” 39 

She pulled off her shoes and socks and started 
across the strip of water. Laddie sat very still . 50 

Down he went after Little Lucia.56 

Nearer and nearer they came to the rocks where the 
seals balanced.. 98 








LITTLE LUCIA’S ISLAND CAMP 
CHAPTER I 


LADDIE GOES INTO TRAINING 



ITTLE LUCIA thought it might He 


A-i better if they went in the automo¬ 
bile on their camping trip. 

“My Laddie would behave better on 
the land,” she explained. “He isn’t a 
water dog.” 

“Well,” said Brother James, “of course 
we could leave Laddie at home with Cook. 
She would take very good care of him.” 

Little Lucia didn’t say a word. She 
knew that James wouldn’t go camping 
without Laddie. 

“I’ll tell you what we will do,” said 


2 LITTLE LUCIA’S ISLAND CAMP 


Mother. “Before Daddy gets here we 
will try to get Laddie used to the boat 
and then maybe he will behave. But 
Daddy would be dreadfully disappointed 
if we didn’t go on his new motor boat.” 

“Oh,” said little Lucia. “Well, we 
mustn’t disappoint Daddy.” 

So James and little Lucia took Laddie 
down to the shore to get him used to the 
boat. 

“He was very young last summer,” said 
little Lucia, “so he can’t remember about 
the ocean at all.” 

Sure enough, the first thing Laddie did 
was to take a drink of it. He was very 
thirsty after his run from the house and 
he swallowed a large gulp. Pschew! He 
sneezed and he coughed and he shook his 
head. Then he looked at James and 
little Lucia. 


LADDIE GOES INTO TRAINING 3 

“He looks very mad,” said little Lucia. 
“He thinks we put the salt in.” 

“Come on,” said Brother James. “First 
we will get in the rowboat near shore.” 

Little Lucia waded out and climbed in, 
and Brother James waded out and climbed 
in. But Laddie sat on the shore. He 
wasn’t going wading in anything that 
tasted as bad as that salt water. Besides, 
the boat rolled every which way and he 
liked steady things to climb into. So he 
sat still, and when James called him, he 
yapped, “Ow! ow!” 

“Now you see,” said Brother James. 
“He’ll have to stay at home with Cook 
when we go camping.” 

Little Lucia didn’t say a word. She 
swung her bare toes in the water and her 
big brown eyes looked quite sad. So 
Brother James stopped teasing at once. 


4 LITTLE LUCIA’S ISLAND CAME 

“Hop out, little Lucia,” he said, “and 
help me pull the boat up on the shore.” 

They pulled and tugged until the boat 
was quite firm on the beach. Laddie 
watched them, but he didn’t try to help 
them the way he usually did. 

“Now we’ll just sit in it,” said James, 
“and when Laddie sees how steady it is, 
he will come too.” 

Sure enough, in a few minutes along 
came Laddie to the edge of the boat. 

“Want to come in?” asked little Lucia. 

“Wow!” said Laddie, and he gave a 
big jump into the boat. 

Then he sniffed all around in it and 
peeked over the edge to see if the land 
was still there. Finally, he lay down on 
the bottom with his soft head on little 
Lucia’s bare feet. 

“Now you wait,” whispered James. 


LADDIE GOES INTO TRAINING 5 
“The tide is coming in and in a few min¬ 
utes we’ll be afloat. Then he’ll have a 
boat ride without knowing it.” 

“Oh! oh! oh! Brother James!” cried 
little Lucia, “how did you ever think of 
that?” 

“That was easy,” said Brother James 
in his big thirteen-year-old voice. “You 
have to coax a collie, you know.” 

In a few minutes, swish, swash, the tide 
began to lap along the bottom of the 
boat. Laddie stuck up both ears and 
looked at little Lucia. She smothered his 
nose. 

Swish, swash, the boat swayed under 
him. Laddie stood up and peeked over 
the edge. Water all around him. He 
didn’t wait a minute. Splash, smash, he 
was on shore, running up and down to 
dry his coat. 


6 LITTLE LUCIA’S ISLAND CAMP 

“Row! row! row!” he barked. “Come 
on ashore quick!” 

But the children never moved. James 
began to paddle slowly up and down the 
shore. Laddie felt very lonesome. 

“Ee! ee! ee!” he cried, and waded into 
the water a few inches. 

James pushed the bow of the boat on 
the shore again and in bounced Laddie. 
It was no fun on the shore all alone. 

Pretty soon the tide went swish, swash 
against the boat again and off it floated. 

Laddie peeked out. “Ee! ee!” he 
whimpered, but he didn’t jump out. 

“Oh, what a good dog!” said little 
Lucia. 

“Oh, what a smart dog!” said Brother 
James. 

Laddie wagged his tail, but only a 
little so the boat wouldn’t rock. They all 


LADDIE GOES INTO TRAINING 7 
kept very still. By and by Laddie sat 
down. But he kept his eye on the water. 
Then James picked up his oars and began 
to row gently. Laddie looked at little 
Lucia and then at the water. He stood up. 

“Such a good dog!” said little Lucia in 
her softest, most comforting voice. 

“Such a brave dog!” said James, row¬ 
ing a little more gently. 

Laddie sat down again. 

After a few minutes James pushed the 
bow of the boat up on the shore. They 
all jumped out and Laddie raced up and 
down the beach. 

“Rah! rah! rah!” he barked. 

“We’ll make a sea dog of him yet,” said 
Brother James, tying up the boat. 

The next day Laddie waited only a 
few minutes before he got into the boat, 
and James rowed up and down for a 


8 LITTLE LUCIA’S ISLAND CAMF 
longer time. He made Laddie sit still in 
the bottom of the boat, but anyway Laddie 
was too anxious to want to move. 

Before Daddy arrived on his vacation, 
Laddie would run down to the shore 
ahead of the children and jump in the 
boat. And he didn’t mind where they 
rowed him. He liked walking about on 
the motor boat out at its mooring, too, 
because he had plenty of room and it 
didn’t sway around so much as the row¬ 
boat. 

“I hope he will like the motor boat just 
as much when the engine makes it go,” 
said little Lucia. 

“Well, I don’t know,” said Brother 
James. “A motor boat chugging isn’t 
much like a motor boat tied to its moor¬ 
ing. But we’ll have to wait until Daddy 
comes before we can train him any more.” 


CHAPTER II 


THE START 

A fter all, there was no time to 
train Laddie any more. Daddy 
arrived in his car one afternoon, all 
loaded with tents and camp dishes and a 
camp stove and folding beds and folding 
chairs—the car was so full that you could 
just see Daddy squeezed in at the wheel. 

“No sir!” said Daddy. “We can’t stay 
around one minute to train dogs. Off we 
go tomorrow morning. My vacation has 
begun!” 

“Well, anyway,” said little Lucia to 
James, “we have trained Laddie so well 
that he will be all right. I guess Daddy 
will be surprised.” 


9 


lo LITTLE LUCIA’S ISLAND CAMP 

The next morning such a hurrying and 
scurrying! They all rose very early. 
Little Lucia and James had been awake in 
their hammock beds out under the trees 
since the first Peabody bird whistled. 
And Laddie, who slept on a rug under 
little Lucia’s hammock, was prancing 
around as soon as it was daylight. They 
were all three very much excited because 
they had never been on a camping trip 
before. Of course. Laddie didn’t know 
where he was going, but he was sure he 
was going somewhere, and that was 
enough to make him excited any time. 
Nutty the Squirrel nearly whisked his tail 
off and cracked his alarm clock at Lad¬ 
die’s actions before he went in the house 
for breakfast. 

When Mother saw all the things that 


THE START 


II 


Daddy had bought for the trip, she said 
they would have to hire the little steamer 
to go along behind with the load. But 
Daddy said everything folded up and he 
knew just where to pack everything in 
the boat. 

Back and forth with its loads went the 
rowboat from the shore to the motor boat, 
and each time Laddie wanted to hop 
aboard because he was afraid they might 
forget to take him. 

At last all the canvas beds and chairs 
and table and buckets and tents were 
folded up and stowed away in the boat; 
and all the funny pots and kettles and 
pans that little Lucia liked so much be¬ 
cause the little ones all fitted into the big 
ones, were packed in the cabin; and all 
the shiny tin cans and fat bags of food 


12 LITTLE LUCIA’S ISLAND CAME 
were shut into the cabin cupboards; and 
nothing was left to go aboard but the pas¬ 
sengers. 

“Are you sure,” asked Daddy, looking 
at Laddie, who was racing up and down 
the beach like a crazy dog, “are you sure 
that he won’t tip us all over?” 

“Oh, yes. Daddy!” said little Lucia. 
“He sits so still! You just wait and see.” 
She felt very anxious. Suppose Daddy 
should think that Laddie ought to stay at 
home with Cook! 

But Laddie climbed into the rowboat 
and sat down in the middle of it very still 
and he never moved all the way out to 
the motor boat. Then James gave his 
hind legs a boost and here he was in the 
motor boat, ready to start. Daddy was 
quite pleased. And little Lucia and 
James felt extremely proud. 




















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THE START 13 

Everybody found a comfortable seat, 
Laddie stretched out on the floor, and 
Daddy got ready to start the engine. 
Now Laddie didn’t know that a motor 
boat made any more noise than a rowboat. 
When the red wheel suddenly rolled over 
and gave a loud snort, Laddie leaped to 
his feet. 

“Chug! chug!” puffed the engine. 

“Ug! ug!” barked Laddie. 

The engine went faster and louder. 
Laddie jumped up on the deck. They 
roared at each other. James grabbed Lad¬ 
die’s collar. Laddie pulled back his head 
to make more noise. James missed the 
collar, and flop! over went Laddie back¬ 
wards into the water. 

“Oh! oh! oh!” screamed little Lucia, 
“my Laddie will be drowned! Oh, save 
him. Daddy! Save him!” 


14 LITTLE LUCIA’S ISLAND CAMP 

She leaned so far over the edge that 
mother had to seize her and pull her back. 
Laddie, looking very much surprised, was 
swimming along behind. 

Daddy stopped the engine at once, and 
pretty soon Laddie caught up to them. 
Then James and Dad leaned over and 
pulled, first his front legs and then his 
hind legs. 

Little Lucia watched with anxious eyes. 

“Oh, my poor Laddie! He’ll come in 
two!” she cried. 

“Well, he’s pretty heavy,” gasped 
James, giving him a final boost. 

In came Laddie! Pschew! His mouth 
was full of salt water because he had had 
it open, barking. He sneezed and he 
coughed. Then he discovered that he was 
very wet. He gave himself an enormous 
shake, then another, then another. By 


THE START 


15 

the third shake everything on the boat 
was wet except the food in the cupboard. 

The family all wiped off their faces 
with towels and sat down in the sun to 
dry. 

“Now,” said Daddy, “if he does that 
again, back he goes to Cook!” 

But Laddie hadn’t liked being ducked 
any more than the rest of them, and he 
was pretty careful when the boat started 
up again. He barked at the engine and 
the engine snorted at him, but he kept his 
four feet on the floor. 

“Too much noise,” said Daddy. 

“Row, row! row!” shouted Laddie. He 
had had so much excitement that morning 
that he just couldn’t stop. 

“I’ll fix him,” said James. He saw 
little Lucia’s big brown eyes looking more 
and more anxious. 


i6 LITTLE LUCIA’S ISLAND CAME 

He filled the bailing can with water 
and held it over Laddie’s head. Laddie 
looked up at it. 

“Ow! ow!” he said. Then more softly, 
“Ow.' ow!” then, “Ee! ee!” then he 
stopped. 

“All right!” James made his voice 
sound very severe. “Now you go over 
there and lie down by little Lucia and get 
dry. 'And don’t let me hear a whimper 
from you again!” 

Then he turned his back and grinned. 
Laddie minded, looking very meek. Then 
everybody turned his back and grinned. 

“Chug! chug! Put! put!” went the 
motor boat all by itself. And they were 
really off on their trip. 


CHAPTER. Ill 

MOON ISLAND, AHOy! 

A S soon as everything had quieted 
down and the boat was running 
smoothly, Daddy got out his big charts 
which had pictures of the islands and the 
bays. He and James spread them out in 
order to plan where they would camp that 
night. 

“Moon Island looks like a good place,” 
said James, putting his finger on the map 
of a small round island. “It has a deep 
cove for a landing place.” 

“All right,” said Dad, “and we ought 
to get there by lunch time.” 

“I’m hungry already,” declared little 
Lucia, 


17 


i8 LITTLE LUCIA’S ISLAND CAMP 

“Already!” cried Brother James, “Why, 
you just ate your breakfast!” 

“I thought you might be,” said Mother. 
She went into the cabin and came back 
with a box of sandwiches and a thermos 
bottle of milk. 

James looked at the thin sandwiches 
with peanut butter sticking out at the 
edges. 

“Hum!” he said. “Quite a lot of 
sandwiches for anybody no bigger than 
little Lucia!” 

“I might give one to Laddie,” said 
little Lucia. “He gets hungry very 
quickly just like me.” 

“Hum!” said Brother James. “It does 
seem quite a while ago since I ate break¬ 
fast. I got up rather early.” 

Little Lucia looked at Mother and their 
eyes twinkled at each other. She took out 


MOON ISLAND, AHOY! 19 

two thin sandwiches for herself and car¬ 
ried the box over to Janies. 

“Perhaps you’d better not eat them 
all,” she said, “I still feel pretty hungry.” 

Then she went back to her seat beside 
Mother, who was steering, and reached 
out for her sandwich. It wasn’t there. 
She looked under her cushion and around 
the steering wheel. The sandwiches were 
gone. 

“Why, Mother,” cried little Lucia, “a 
fish must have eaten my sandwiches!” 

Just at that minute her eye fell on 
Laddie. He was looking out to sea, as if 
at something very interesting. But little 
Lucia noticed that his red tongue gave his 
chops a quick lick. 

“Open your mouth. Laddie!” she said, 
but Laddie shut his teeth together. 

“Never mind, you needn’t. I see 


20 LITTLE LUCIA’S ISLAND CAME 
crumbs on your mouth. You are a 
naughty dog!” 

Laddie winked hard and looked every 
which way. 

They all turned their backs and 
grinned. Then little Lucia went back to 
the box beside James. She looked into it. 

“Just two left in the bottom, Mother,” 
she said. Daddy and James looked every 
which way and winked hard. “Seems to 
me I wasn’t the only hungry one.” She 
took one sandwich back to Mother and ate 
one herself. Then she drank her milk and 
felt a great deal better. 

Laddie was all ready to land by this 
time. He had never stayed so long on 
board before. Every time the boat 
chugged by a small island he would walk 
up and down and lean his head way over 
the edge and say, “Ee! ee! eel!” Little 


MOON ISLAND, AHOY! 21 
Lucia had to hunt his ball up and let him 
chew a hunk out of it to amuse him. 

At last Dad pointed out Moon Island. 

“Moon Island, ahoy!” said Brother 
James. “Get ready to land.” 

“Why, I thought it would be just big 
enough to step on,” said little Lucia. “It 
looks so tiny on the map.” 

Brother James laughed his big thirteen- 
year-old laugh. 

“You could walk all day,” he said, 
“and you would still be on Moon Island.” 

When they came to the deep cove. 
Mother steered very carefully around the 
opening to it. The motor boat said, 
“Put! tut! tut!” and the high rocks on 
each side made the echo say, “Tut! tut!” 
Laddie heard the new noise of the echo, 
and he barked “Row! row!” “Ow! ow!” 
barked the echo. 


22 LITTLE LUCIA’S ISLAND CAME 

Laddie began to get excited. The chug 
of the boat and its echo, and Laddie’s 
bark and its echo, made a dreadful racket. 
It came from all sides at once until Laddie 
was sure that dozens of dogs were on shore 
waiting for him. He couldn’t stop for 
the rowboat to take him in. As soon as 
he saw the sandy beach near, he leaped 
into the water and swam ashore. 

“Rah! rah! rah!” he barked, racing up 
and down the beach. But on shore there 
was no echo, and not one of his dozen 
barking dogs could he find. So he ran up 
to the spring and took a long drink of 
water. Sailing in a motor boat was 
thirsty work! 

The first thing everybody had to do 
was to pick up driftwood for a fire. They 
all scurried back and forth, for the salt 
air had made them hungry. Those peanut 


MOON ISLAND, AHOY! 23 
butter sandwiches seemed almost as far 
away as breakfast. 

As soon as Laddie saw them all hurry¬ 
ing and picking up sticks, he began to 
hurry and pick up sticks, too. But he 
threw them up in the air and chased them, 
so he wasn’t much help. 

Before long the driftwood fire was 
blazing and Dad had settled his camp 
stove over it. Nobody could wait for 
potatoes to roast, but Dad knew a way to 
fry them crisp and brown very quickly. 
Mother popped the steak on a broiler, and 
then the good smells that came from that 
camp-fire! Laddie sat beside it, his mouth 
watering so hard that his pink tongue 
dripped. 

Little Lucia and James spread a cloth 
on a big flat rock and unfolded all the 
dishes which were fitted into one another. 


24 LITTLE LUCIA’S ISLAND CAME 
Each person had a shiny plate and cup 
and saucer. On each shiny plate Mother 
heaped hot steak and crisp potatoes and 
in each shiny cup Dad poured fragrant 
coffee. Dad had two cupfuls, and Mother 
had one cupful, and James had half a 
cupful, and little Lucia had three drops 
in her hot milk. 

Laddie drank spring water. But how 
he did chew his steak bone! He crunched 
away at it with his strong white teeth as 
if he had forgotten too that he had ever 
helped himself to any peanut butter sand¬ 
wiches. He even sat up on his hind legs 
to beg for a thin raisin cooky for dessert. 

But as he had only lately learned to sit 
up, he wasn’t very steady and he tipped 
over, flop! against the coffee pot. Daddy’s 
third cup of coffee flowed out in the sand, 
and Laddie looked quite discouraged when 


MOON ISLAND, AHOY! 25 
he heard what Dad said, and noticed how 
hot the coffee felt on his paws. Little 
Lucia hurried to give him a cooky for fear 
he would never sit up again. 

When dinner was over, little Lucia 
suddenly felt very sleepy. Dad stretched 
the steamer rug out in the sand where the 
green sea grass and the beach peas shaded 
her face. Little Lucia watched the purple 
blossoms nod their heads up and down, 
back and forth, up and down, back and— 
why, she was sound asleep! 


CHAPTER IV 


peek! peek! peek! 


W HEN little Lucia woke from her 
nap, she lay very still for a few 
moments looking up into the green sea 
grass and the beach pea blossoms. The 
air smelled salty from the ocean and sweet 
from the clovers. The sun felt warm on 
her hands. She stretched. 

“I must get right up,” thought little 
Lucia, “and help put my tent up.” 

She lifted her brown head when sud¬ 
denly she noticed a bright eye looking 
at her through the sea grasses. Very 
slowly and softly she sat up. Still the 
bright eye watched unwinking. 

“Oh! oh! oh!” said little Lucia to her- 

26 


PEEK! PEEK! PEEK 


27 

self, “it’s a bird on her nest! Now I 
mustn’t scare her away.” 

She tried as hard as she could to creep 
away quietly, but suddenly the bird shot 
past her to the beach crying, “Peek! peek! 
peek!” 

Little Lucia laughed. “She says for 
me to peek so I guess I will.” She moved 
carefully around in the sea grass. 

“Peek! peek! peek!” cried the mother 
bird, flying back. 

Little Lucia stood still. “That’s all 
I’m going to do,” she told her. “Don’t 
you be scared.” 

TJjen right at her feet she saw four 
spotted eggs in a loose grass nest under 
the beach pea blossoms. 

“Oh! oh!” cried little Lucia. “I found 
a nest all by myself. Won’t Brother 
James be surprised!” She picked up her 


28 LITTLE LUCIA’S ISLAND CAMP 
rug. “Now I’ll go away,” she told the 
mother bird who was running up and 
down on the sand. “You look very ner¬ 
vous, teetering up and down like that.” 

When little Lucia got back to the camp, 
she was so surprised at what she saw that 
she almost forgot about the nest. While 
she had slept. Dad and James had been 
hard at work. 

Just out of reach of the tide, side by 
side, stood two brown khaki tents. 
Through the open flaps little Lucia could 
see Mother making up the cot beds. She 
ran into the smaller tent. Here was a 
little bed for her on one side and a larger 
one for James on the other side. Beside 
her bed was a small canvas chair and 
beside James’s bed was a middle-sized 
canvas chair. 

“I feel just like Golden Hair in the 


PEEK! PEEK! PEEK 29 

bears’ house,” she cried, as she sat down 
on the little chair, and then on the mid¬ 
dle-sized chair. “Now I must try the big 
bear’s chair,” and she ran into Daddy’s 
tent. 

“Bow! wow! wow!” Laddie bounced 
out at her from under the bed, and little 
Lucia was thinking so hard about bears 
that for a minute she thought one had her. 

“Oo— 00— 00!” she screamed and 
leaped square into the middle of the cot. 

“Row! row! row!” shouted Laddie, 
who thought this was great fun, leaping 
after her. 

Now a canvas cot has to be unfolded 
just right and all its legs set up carefully 
and James had not finished setting up its 
fourth leg. So when little Lucia and 
Laddie leaped on it, it folded up. Down 
they went under the pillows and bed- 


30 LITTLE LUCIA’S ISLAND CAMP 
clothes. By this time little Lucia was 
sure that a bear had got her. 

“Oo-oo— oo— ooh!” she screamed. 
“Daddy, save me! James! Mother!” 

James was laughing too hard to help, 
but Mother came running from the other 
tent. She fished little Lucia out of the 
folded up cot and pulled the blankets off 
Laddie, whose “Row! row! row!” was 
beginning to sound quite smothered. 

“Now you two run down on the beach,” 
said Mother in her nice soothing voice. 
“You don’t seem to be much help around 
here.” 

Little Lucia looked at Laddie and he 
looked at her. l 

“I thought you were a bear,” said little 
Lucia, her eyes as big as saucers. 

“Ook! ook! ook!” grunted Laddie, his 
tongue hanging out. “Most got choked.” 


PEEK! PEEK! PEEK 


31 

It wasn’t until they were sitting around 
the camp-fire eating supper that little 
Lucia remembered to tell them about her 
bird’s nest. 

“The mother bird rocked up and down 
like a rocking-horse, she was so excited,” 
said little Lucia, trying to toast a bit of 
bread on the end of a stick. “Why, there 
she is now, running behind those rocks. 
Hear her say, ‘Peek! peek! peek’?” 

“It’s a sandpiper,” said Brother James. 
“Their nests are easy to find.” 

“All right,” said little Lucia, eating 
her toast. “You find hers tomorrow 
morning.” 

“That’s easy,” said Brother James. “I 
can ^nd it in two minutes.” 

Little Lucia didn’t say a word. She 
just nibbled her toast. 

That night she was hardly in her small 


32 LITTLE LUCIA’S ISLAND CAME 
cot bed before she was asleep. She 
wanted to stay awake to listen to the 
swish, swash of the waves on the beach 
and to watch the stars wink through the 
flap of the tent, but the sun and wind on 
the water and the salt air blowing through 
the tent made her eyelashes feel so heavy 
that she couldn’t keep her eyes open. 

Soon the beach was all quiet and dark 
except for the swish, swash of the waves 
and the glow of coals in the camp-fire. 


CHAPTER V 


A SANDPIPER PARADE 

T he next morning when little Lucia 
woke, she could hear the crackle of 
the breakfast fire on the beach. Then she 
got a whiff of the bacon cooking over it. 
She ran to the door of her tent. The sun 
made the water look like shining blue 
glass. And there swimming across the 
little cove, his head smooth and wet like 
a seal’s, was Brother James. Laddie was 
racing up and down the beach barking, 
“Out! out! out! Come out!” 

Little Lucia slid into her speck of a 
bathing suit and ran down to the edge of 
the water. The day was so bright that it 

33 


34 LITTLE LUCIA’S ISLAND CAMP 
made her dance on her toes and wave her 
arms in the sun. 

Spang! she jumped into the water. 
And spang! she jumped out of it. Oooh, 
it was cold! She scampered twice as hard 
back to her tent. Laddie barked “Ha! 
ha! ha!” He knew better than to go into 
that cold water. 

Little Lucia’s dip had made her so 
hungry that she hurried like a white-head. 
That’s what James said when he hurried 
very fast. She tingled all over with a 
warm glow. When she ran up to Mother 
for her morning kiss, she was as pink as 
the wild roses along the shore. 

Mother cooked one pan of bacon, and 
Daddy cooked another, and still there 
wasn’t enough. As for eggs, the shells 
made a high pile on the beach. And they 


A SANDPIPER PARADE 


35 

finished a box of fresh honey. Mother 
shook her head. 

‘Today we must fish and dig clams,” 
she said, “or we shall have to sail home 
because we have no more food. We ate 
two breakfasts this morning.” 

Little Lucia looked alarmed. 

“I’ll dig clams,” she said. 

Brother James got up quickly. 

“I’ll go fishing this minute,” he said. 

Dad laughed. 

“All right,” he said. “But first, every¬ 
one must help clear up. This is Mother’s 
vacation, too.” 

Then everyone flew around so fast that 
in half an hour the camp was spick and 
span. 

“Now,” said little Lucia, “where’s the 
nest, Brother James?” 


36 UTTLE LUCIA’S ISLAND CAMP 

For the life of him, Brother James 
couldn’t remember where little Lucia had 
taken her nap yesterday. And little Lucia 
wouldn’t even glance toward the place. 
He walked slowly along the beach in ex¬ 
actly the wrong direction. He poked in 
the sweet fern and peered under the 
stones. Little Lucia didn’t say a word 
for a long time. 

.Then she fastened Laddie to the tent 
post. 

“You stay here,” she said. “You’d 
scare my little piper most to death.” 

“No! no! no!” barked Laddie. 

“Yes! yes! yes!” cried little Lucia, and 
she ran up to the place where the sand¬ 
piper had her nest. In a minute she 
found it. But what had happened*? She 
blinked her eyes and looked again. Then 
she dropped down on her knees beside it. 


A SANDPIPER PARADE 37 

“Oh, James! James! James!” she 
called. “Come quick!” 

James came running across the beach 
and little Lucia was so excited that she 
forgot to remind him that he hadn’t found 
the nest. 

“Oh, look!” she cried. “The baby 
pipers are out! And they are all covered 
with fur!” 

“That’s soft down like chickens,” said 
Brother James. “And see how they all sit 
with their beaks together in the middle of 
the nest. Oh, quick, little Lucia, here 
comes the mother!” and he pulled little 
Lucia back into the sweet smelling |bay- 
berry bushes. 

They crept away softly. 

“Could we come back again this after¬ 
noon'?” asked little Lucia. 

“Perhaps we might, but you must be 


38 LITTLE LUCIA’S ISLAND CAME 
very careful not to disturb the mother,” 
said Brother James in his big thirteen- 
year-old voice. 

“All right,” said little Lucia. “But 
who found the nest, I wonder?” 

Brother James picked up some flat 
pebbles. 

“I might show you how to skip stones,” 
he remarked, making one skip seven 
times. 

Late in the afternoon after the fish had 
been caught, little Lucia and James took 
Mother and Daddy up to see the sand¬ 
piper’s nest. Laddie stayed tied to the 
tent post. 

Little Lucia bent over the nest. Then 
she straightened up and looked at Mother, 
her eyes as big as saucers. 

“It’s empty!” she cried. “Oh, Mother, 








.3 



n&.T^ SheruoDd Uri^kiT 

“She’s taking her brand new babies out for a walk.” 

























A SANDPIPER parade 39 
do you suppose Laddie has eaten them 
up?” 

“No, indeed,” said Mother in her nice 
soothing voice. “Dogs don’t eat birds.” 

Just then James called softly, “G)me 
over here.” 

They crept over to the knoll where he 
stood. He pointed to the beach. There, 
walking along,, teeter, teeter, was mother 
sandpiper; and there scrambling and tip¬ 
ping along behind her, teeter, teeter, were 
four scraps of baby sandpipers. 

“Why, Mother!” gasped little Lucia in 
a whisper. “She’s taking her brand new 
babies out for a walk!” 

But Mother Sandpiper heard the 
whisper. 

“Peek!” she said sharply. Instantly, 
the beach was empty. Not a baby could 
be seen. The mother was flying out over 


40 LITTLE LUCIA’S ISLAND CAMP 
the water. James moved slowly among 
the stones. Then he turned and beckoned 
to them. 

‘'Go very carefully,” he warned. “You 
might step on one.” 

Little Lucia hardly dared put one foot 
in front of the other, but at last she 
reached Brother James. He pointed to a 
crack in the rock. There, squeezed in 
tight, perfectly still, was one baby. He 
pointed under a stone. There, pushed in 
as far as it could get, perfectly still, was 
another baby. You never could have told 
either of them from the stones. The other 
two were nowhere to be seen. 

“Let’s sit down behind the bayberry 
bushes a minute,” said Dad. 

They sat down and waited. Soon, 
“Peek! peek!” came the cry across the 
water, then nearer, and then when she had 


A SANDPIPER PARADE 41 
reached the spot where she had left them, 
the mother sandpiper gave the loveliest 
call, soft, gentle, quivery. At once out 
ran four little sandpipers, and teeter, 
teeter, they started off down the beach 
again. 

Little Lucia squeezed Mother’s hand. * 
“Did jyou hear her lovely mother-call?” 
she asked. And Mother squeezed little 
Lucia’s hand. 

Then little Lucia laughed. 

“They looked as if they had on little 
’possum fur coats like yours. Mother,” 
she said. 

“Pretty smart little pipers,” said 
Brother James. “All dressed up and out 
for a parade the day they were born!” 


CHAPTER VI 


LITTLE LUCIA DIGS CLAMS 

ELL,” said Daddy the next after- 



▼ T noon, “I should like a good clam 
chowder for my supper.” 

“Oh, yes,” said little Lucia, nodding 
her brown head. “I was going to dig 
you some clams yesterday but I was too 
busy.” 

“I think I could eat about a bushel,” 
said Daddy, “so perhaps I’d better go 
along and help.” 

“Perhaps you had,” agreed little Lucia, 
“and James and Mother, too. A bushel is 


a lot.” 


The tide was going out slowly, slowly, 

leaving the brown mud flats bare, and un- 
42 


LITTLE LUCIA DIGS CLAMS 43 
covering the shining green eel grass. It 
looked nice and squashy to wade in. 

“Put on your old sneakers,” warned 
Brother James, “or the shells may cut 
your feet.” 

Down on the beach they all went, out, 
out, where the clean smooth pebbles left 
off and the mud began. 

“Oh, what makes that funny round 
hole!” cried little Lucia, stooping over to 
look. Squirt! a little stream of salt water 
hither square in the eye. 

“Oo— 00— 00— Mother, it spit at 
me!” cried little Lucia, running with one 
eye shut to have Mother dry her face. 
“It spit at me! Whatis^itT’ 

Mother laughed. 

“That’s a clam telling you that it is at 
home,” she said. “Now you know where 
to dig. See- here.” She stamped her foot 


44 LITTLE LUCIA’S ISLAND CAMP 
and all around out of the mud shot little 
fountains of salt water. “This is a good 
place to begin.” 

Daddy started a hole for little Lucia 
with his clam hook and then she took her 
trowel and dug down and around in the 
soft mud. 

“Oh! oh! I’ve got one!” she cried, pull¬ 
ing out a big white clam. “Oh! oh! an¬ 
other! and another! See Mother, tucked 
in on mud shelves all around!” 

Laddie, who was paddling around won¬ 
dering what everybody was so excited 
about, ran to little Lucia’s hole. He 
jumped back when a clam squirted at him. 
But there was nothing Laddie liked better 
to do than to dig holes. Before little 
Lucia knew what he was about, he had 
plunged his white fore legs into the hole. 


LITTLE LUCIA DIGS CLAMS 45 
Scratch, kick, slap, bang, the mud flew all 
over him and all over little Lucia. 

Little Lucia, who was squatting beside 
the hole, jumped .to get away from the 
mud shower, but her pile of clams was in 
the way and down she went on her hands 
and knees in the mud. Her eyes were 
shut tight because little black streams 
were trickling down her face, and she 
didn’t dare open her mouth for fear she 
would swallow mud. So there she 
hunched on her hands and knees, her head 
going this way and that for someone to 
help her. And all the time Laddie was 
making the mud fly higher than ever. 

James laughed so hard that he could 
scarcely pull Laddie out of the hole. 
Mother picked little Lucia up and car¬ 
ried her over to a clean pool of water 


46 LITTLE LUCIA’S ISLAND CAMP 
where she bathed her face. How |littlc 
Lucia did sputter when she dared open 
her mouth! But Laddie didn’t care. He 
liked digging clams, and he was off in la 
still muddier place, hard at work, 

“Well, anyway,” said little Lucia, 
picking up her trowel again. “He’ll have 
to gO|in for a swim to get clean again, and 
he won’t like that. The naughty dog!” 

Before long the clam hod was piled 
high with big white clams. 

“Is it a bushel yet"?” asked,little Lucia, 
sitting back on her heels. 

“Well, anyway,” said Daddy, “it is 
enough for an enormous chowder. Now 
I will wash them over there on the rocks,” 
They all went along too to sit on the 
rocks and rest a-while. The tide had gone 
out so far that the rocks jat the edge of 
the cove were uncovered in a long point. 


LITTLE LUCIA DIGS CLAMS 47 
It lifted the brown rockweed lazily up 
and down in the pools. 

“When the moon is full,” said Dad, 
“the tide goes out very low. Maybe we 
could find starfish.” 

Out over the slippery seaweed-covered 
rocks they crawled. Out to the point 
which was never uncovered except^at the 
full of the moon. Here the water was 
bright and clean and the pools had floors 
of shining pebbles or white sand. 

“I’ve found a red starfish,” cried little 
Lucia, “and, oh, a purple one, and a brown 
one.” She watched them curl up their 
rays in her hands. “They tickle my 
hands with their feelers,” she cried, shak¬ 
ing them off into the pool. “Oh, Daddy, 
what are these lumps of brown jelly?” 

“Leave them alone a minute, little 
Lucia, and you will see,” said Dad. 


48 LITTLE LUCIA’S ISLAND CAMP 

Little Lucia sat back and watched. 
Pretty soon the smooth brown lump 
stretched a little, then out around the top, 
slowly, softly, waving in the water, crept 
feathery tips. Soon the brown lump had 
become a lovely wide open blossom. 

“Why, it came out just like a flower!” 
Little Lucia’s eyes were wide with sur¬ 
prise. 

“That’s why they call it sea anemone,” 
said Dad. “Though it is a little animal. 
Pretty, isn’t it?” 

“Oh, Daddy,” sighed little Lucia, “I 
do like it. Show me some more!” 

“Not now,” said Dad, “because I am 
going to make you the best chowder you 
ever tasted in your life. And James has 
to row over for the evening milk, and I 
have to shuck the clams, and you and 


LITTLE LUCIA DIGS CLAMS 49 
Mother have to start the salt pork and 
onions. So you see!” 

Little Lucia’s mouth began to water. 
She turned back toward the camp. 

“Are you sure, Daddy, that we ought 
not to go back and dig the bushel full? 
I begin to feel very hungry.” 

Daddy built the fire and shucked the 
clams. James rowed over after the milk 
and cream. Little Lucia peeled the pota¬ 
toes. Mother cooked all the good things 
in a big pot over the camp-fire, and such a 
chowder as they all made together you 
never tasted. Rich and creamy and hot! 
Everybody had two bowls apiece, even 
Laddie, who had done nothing but run 
away with the salt pork just as they got 
ready to use it. But then, as little Lucia 
said, he had never beeiv taught to cook. 


CHAPTER VII 


LADDIE TO THE RESCUE 

L ittle Lucia didn’t like to go fish¬ 
ing. She liked going off in the boat, 
and throwing over the fish lines, and wait¬ 
ing for the first exciting nibble, but she 
didn’t like it after the fish came on board. 
They flopped up at her so unexpectedly 
when she looked at them. The only time 
she had been fishing. Dad caught just two 
fish, and little Lucia, thought they looked 
so unhappy that she made him throw them 
back into the sea. 

So after that, little Lucia stayed at 
home when the family .went fishing. She 
liked it. Laddie stayed with her because 

he was a worse fisher than she was. When 
50 



flvr^^heruflmli|Ti]jLSE 

She pulled off her shoes and socks and started across 
the strip of water. Laddie sat very still. 













































LADDIE TO THE RESCUE 


51 

the fish began to flop, he began to bark 
and jump at them, until Daddy said no 
wonder he caught only two fish. 

Laddie didn’t mind, either, because he 
couldn’t go. If little Lucia went on board 
the motor boat he felt he must go too, but 
he never did quite trust a boat that could 
bark louder than he did. He certainly 
didn’t wish to go if little Lucia stayed 
ashore. 

Today Dad wanted to try a new fishing 
place around the island, so he and James 
started out of the cove, chug! chug! put- 
tut-tut-tut! Mother took her book and 
lay down under a pine tree where pres¬ 
ently she fell asleep. 

“Now, Laddie,” whispered little Lucia, 
“don’t you wake my Mother. We’d bet¬ 
ter go down on the beach where she won’t 
hear you.” 


52 LITTLE LUCIA’S ISLAND CAMP 

But when they got down on the shore, 
little Lucia could see the sandpiper with 
her four little pipers running around the 
beach. They were growing very fast and 
they could fly now, but little Lucia didn’t 
want Laddie to scare them. 

'Tf I tie him to the tent post he’ll bark 
and wake Mother,” she thought, holding 
him by his collar. 

Laddie looked at her. He was ready 
to bark, or to chase the sandpipers, or to 
do anything else that popped into his 
mischievous head. 

know,” said little Lucia, ‘'we’ll go 
out on the rocks where we found the star¬ 
fish. It is low tide, and I’d like to sec 
that sea anemone blossom again.” 

She held Laddie’s collar until he was 
safely past the piper family. Then away 
he went over the rocks out toward the 


LADDIE TO THE RESCUE 53 
point. Every few minutes he would run 
back to see how little Lucia was getting 
along, but most of the time he was far 
ahead. She stopped to look at so many 
things that he got quite impatient. Be¬ 
sides, the rocks were pretty big for little 
Lucia to scramble over alone, and anyway 
he had twice as many legs. 

At last they came to the far point where 
the pools lay quiet waiting for the tide to 
turn back. Little Lucia watched the bar¬ 
nacles putting out fairy fingers from the 
cracks of their tight little shells and 
drawing them in quickly when her shadow 
fell across them. The sea anemone was at 
home, but she would not blossom although 
little Lucia waited ever so long. 

Then Laddie dug out a funny old crab 
who snapped his pincers at them and scut¬ 
tled about sidewise. Laddie could hardly 


54 LITTLE LUCIA’S ISLAND CAMR 
be persuaded to leave him, though little 
Lucia told him he would get his nose 
pinched if he didn’t look out. And she 
had all she could do to keep him away 
from the spiny sea urchins. 

“You’d better find something else to 
play with,” she advised him. “If the crab 
doesn’t pinch your nose, the sea urchin 
will prick it. You need to be looked after 
a good deal.” 

Even the lazy snails were out for a 
slow walk under the wet sea weed. There 
were so many things to look at that little 
Lucia never noticed how fast the tide was 
creeping in. 

When she did lift her brown head and 
look about, she discoverd that instead of 
being on a point of rock, she and Laddie 
were now on a small island. The tide 


LADDIE TO THE RESCUE 


55 

was covering the neck of land that she had 
crossed deeper every moment. 

“Why, Laddie,” cried little Lucia, 
“we’ll have to wade. Come quickly be¬ 
fore it gets too deep.” 

She pulled off her shoes and socks and 
started across the strip of water. Laddie 
sat still. He had had so many baths that 
he hated going into the water. 

“Back! back! back!” he barked. “Come 
back!” 

“No, sir,” said little Lucia. “I’m going 
across before it gets any deeper and you’d 
better come too, or you’ll have to stay 
there all night,” and she waded sturdily 
along. 

But little Lucia’s legs weren’t very 
long and she hadn’t gone far before the 
water was up to the edge of her bloomers. 


56 LITTLE LUCIA’S ISLAND CAMP 

“Perhaps I’d better go back,” she 
thought. “I can call for Mother to come 
get me. But then Daddy’s got the boat.” 
She took another step forward. 

Splash! down she went. The beach 
had suddenly hollowed out and the water 
here was over little Lucia’s head. She 
tried to cry out, but the cold salt water 
rushed into her mouth and stopped her; 
she tried to kick her legs and arms as 
James had taught her, but she was too 
frightened to remember how to swim; she 
tried to touch bottom and her little brown 
head went entirely out of sight under the 
water. 

Suddenly, there was a terrific rush 
through the water. Lad was coming so 
fast that he churned up white waves 
around him. Down he went after little 
Lucia and up she came gurgling and 



Down he went after Little Lucia, 













































1 

1 


« 

n 

{ 


J 

t 

J 

I. 


t 


'n 

I 

t 

f 

\ 


i 


\ 





n 

• ( 




LADDIE TO THE RESCUE 57 
gasping and sputtering. His teeth were 
fast in the back of her middy, his neck 
was stretched up high over the water, and 
he was swimming, paddle, paddle, paddle, 
for the shore. In a minute they touched 
bottom, because after all the tide had not 
come in very far. But there had been 
enough water to carry off little Lucia, and 
she knew it. 

Though she was crying hard with 
fright, she held tight around Laddie’s 
neck as she lay sobbing in a wet little 
heap on the rocks. 

Then all at once, chug! chug! put! tut! 
tut! tut! the motor boat was racing toward 
them. And running, stumbling, breath¬ 
less, Mother was rushing toward them 
over the rocks! Everybody had seen little 
Lucia fall, but nobody had been near 
enough to do any good except Laddie. 


58 LITTLE LUCIA’S ISLAND CAME 

And as for Laddie! Well, if you had 
seen him strutting around while everyone 
praised him and hugged him) wet coat and 
all, you would have laughed. But even 
if he did put on airs, he never left little 
Lucia’s side until they got her home. He 
walked close beside Dad, who carried her 
all dripping in his arms, and every now 
and then he reached up and touched her 
bare feet with his soft nose. 

Brother James seemed to know just 
how Laddie felt because every now and 
then he too would reach out and touch 
little Lucia. And Mother held tight to 
her little wet hand and Daddy squeezed 
her so hard that she was glad when he put 
her down at the tent door. 

In a few minutes a big camp-fire was 
blazing, and little Lucia was warm and in 
dry clothes, and the good smells were 


LADDIE TO THE RESCUE 59 
coming from the camp stove, and little 
Lucia almost forgot how frightened she 
had been. 

But Laddie didn’t forget. He stayed 
close beside her even after she had gone 
to bed and was sound asleep. And al¬ 
ways after that, it didn’t matter how many 
people were near to look out for little 
Lucia, he never let her go out on the rocks 
without him right at her heels. 


CHAPTER VIII 


THE TRIP TO THE MAINLAND 

HIS afternoon,” said Daddy at 



A breakfast a few days later, “we 
shall have to take a trip to the nearest 
mainland for supplies. We are getting 
out of almost everything.” 

Little Lucia hopped up from her camp- 
chair. Laddie hopped up from under the 
camp table. He always hopped when 
little Lucia did, though it did sometimes 
upset things. 

“Am I going too?” cried little Lucia. 

“Well,” said Daddy, “I think perhaps 
you better come along. You might try 
to go in swimming again the way you did 
the other day.” 


6o 


THE TRIP TO THE MAINLAND 6i 

“I swimmed enough,” said little Lucia, 
“but I’m glad I am going. I need a new 
pail and six apples and a candle for my 
tent. Is Laddie going?” 

Dad looked at Laddie and thought 
awhile. 

“He was a good dog the other day,” 
said Brother James. 

“All right,” said Daddy, “though he 
may not be a good dog today. Anyway 
he’d probably swim after us if little Lucia 
went without him.” 

They had early lunch and little Lucia 
had an early nap and quite early in the 
afternoon they were ready to start. Each 
person took a basket on his arm to carry 
supplies. Even Laddie picked up a 
strawberry box in his mouth and tried to 
carry it on board. 

When the engine of the motor boat 


62 LITTLE LUCIA’S ISLAND CAMP 
started up, chug! chug! put! tut! tut! 
Laddie acted even worse than usual. Per¬ 
haps all the praises which he had had 
lately had spoiled him. An5rway, he 
barked and pranced up and down on the 
deck until James actually had to throw 
the bailing bucket of water on his head. 
Then he rumbled and grumbled and 
shook his wet fur over everybody until 
Dad nearly took him back to the shore. 
But they all remembered how good he 
had been and let him stay. 

The wind blew enough to make little 
dancy waves slap against the sides of the 
boat. The engine settled into its steady 
song and little Lucia began to sing too. 
Not a real song, but up high and down 
low with the engine. 

“I can feel the engine shake little notes 
out of my voice,” she cried. “Listen, 


THE TRIP TO THE MAINLAND 63 
Mother, don’t you hear them shaking out 
over the water?” And she sang as loud 
and as high as she could. 

“Oh, look!” shouted Brother James. 
“There are some porpoises!” He pointed 
out at a dozen fat porpoises rolling swiftly 
through the water, end over end. 

“Oh! oh!” cried little Lucia. “Suppose 
they should roll under our boat!” 

“They won’t,” said Mother in her nice 
soothing voice. “Porpoises never come 
up under boats.” 

But they came pretty near, near enough 
so that all at once Laddie caught sight of 
them. Now Laddie had quieted down 
because he didn’t like the bailing bucket, 
but he was feeling rather smarty still. 
When he saw those great black porpoises 
rolling and rushing through the water, he 
sprang up with such a roar that he lost his 


64 LITTLE LUCIA’S ISLAND CAMF 
balance, and splash! overboard he went 
again. This time they all put on water¬ 
proof slickers before they pulled him in. 
But the boat got wet and slippery and 
Daddy began to look cross. 

“Tie that dog to a cleat, James,” he 
said. “Next time he stays at home.” 

Then he reached down and started up 
the engine wheel again. 

Chug! chug! put! tut—it stopped short. 
And not another tut would it say. James 
put his head over the edge of the boat. 

“Oh, Dad!” he cried, looking quite 
scared, “the rope is caught in the pro¬ 
peller.” 

Dad sprang to the edge. Sure enough, 
while Laddie was being hauled aboard, 
the rowboat behind had floated too near 
and its rope had become entangled in the 
propeller which made the motor boat go. 


THE TRIP TO THE MAINLAND 65 

“Back her up,” cried James. 

Dad tried to back, and to go forwards, 
but no use; the engine was all tied up and 
it could not move. 

Little Lucia sat very still, square in 
front of Laddie. She didn’t want any¬ 
body to see him just then. 

“Well,” said Daddy at last when he 
had tried everything. “There is nothing 
to do but row to that island over there. 
If I put the boat on the beach I can get 
the rope off.” 

So James and Daddy got out into the 
rowboat and fastened a rope to the big 
boat, and then how they rowed! Pull! 
Pull! Pull! Pull! The wind that blew 
the dancy waves slap, slap against the 
boat made it all the harder to row. 

Little Lucia peered over the edge with 
her big brown eyes. 


66 LITTLE LUCIA’S ISLAND CAMP 

“Oh, dear!” she thought, “they look so 
hot, and it is so far to that island!” 

She made Laddie lie down in the bot¬ 
tom of the boat and keep very still. Once 
he peeked over the edge and James made 
an awful face at him. Little Lucia pulled 
him back quickly. 

At last they reached the island. They 
pulled the motor boat on shore where Dad 
could reach the rope. Finally, he got it 
unwound. 

“Now we’ll have to hurry,” he said, 
crawling out from under the boat, “or we 
won’t get over to the mainland for our sup¬ 
plies. All ready, James, give her a push.” 

But though James and Daddy pushed, 
and Mother and little Lucia pushed, the 
boat would not budge. The tide had gone 
out too far for them to move the heavy 
boat. 


THE TRIP TO THE MAINLAND 67 

They all sat down on the sand and 
looked sadly at each other. Even Laddie 
began to look sad. 

“Nothing to do but wait for the tide to 
come back,” said Dad, “and that won’t be 
until midnight.” 

Little Lucia’s big brown eyes looked 
scared. Even Brother James seemed 
startled. 

“Oh, well,” said Mother in her nice 
soothing voice, “I guess we can all be 
Robinson Crusoes for a little while. If 
we can’t get away until midnight, we 
shall have to have some supper.” 

“I know,” cried Brother James, “I 
will take the rowboat and catch us some 
fish.” 

“I know,” cried little Lucia, “I will 
take a sharp stone and dig up some 
clams.” 


68 LITTLE LUCIA’S ISLAND CAME 

So James caught three large flounders, 
and little Lucia and Mother dug some 
clams, and they all gathered driftwood 
until they had a big camp-fire to cook over. 
Of course, they had no potatoes or bread 
or anything like that, but they were too 
hungry to mind. 

They steamed the clams piping hot in 
the seaweed and they ate the fish piping 
hot from the clean flat stones it was 
cooked on. You never tasted anything 
so good! 

Then since they had to stay until mid¬ 
night, they built up an enormous drift¬ 
wood fire and stretched out beside it on 
the boat cushions and rugs. 

Little Lucia watched fhe flames flaring 
up into the dark sky and cuddled closer 
to Laddie’s soft coat. The woods looked 
very black away from the fire, and she 


THE TRIP TO THE MAINLAND 69 

was glad that they were all there, close 
together. 

“I won’t go to sleep,” she thought, “be¬ 
cause it will be midnight very soon, and 
I want to help get the boat off,” 

But when midnight came, she was so 
sound asleep that she never knew when 
Daddy carried her on board the boat. 

She opened her eyes when it chugged 
off into the black water, and she saw the 
stars blur and shake with the jar of the 
engine. Then she reached her hand out 
for Laddie, but he seemed very good and 
quiet now, so she fell asleep again. 

When she woke again, the sun was 
shining into her tent and Dad and James 
had already had their breakfast and gone 
over to the mainland for supplies. But 
they had not taken Laddie with them 
this time. 


CHAPTER IX 


THE TRAIL TO INDIAN HEAD 

I ’D like to climb up to Indian Head this 
afternoon,” said Brother James. “If 
we move camp tomorrow this will be my 
last chance.” 

“I’d like to go, too,” said little Lucia. 
“It will be my last chance, too.” 

“I should say not.” Brother James 
sounded very firm, but when he saw that 
little Lucia looked hurt, he hurried to 
explain. “It is a long, long walk, and 
there is no path, only a rough trail. You 
couldn’t possibly walk so far.” 

“Well, I don’t know about you,” said 
Dad. “I’ve got to work on the motor boat 
to get it ready for our trip to Sheep Island 

70 


THE TRAIL TO INDIAN HEAD 71 
tomorrow. Do you think you could 
manage alone?” 

Brother James drew himself up to his 
tallest thirteen-year-old height and spoke 
in his biggest thirteen-year-old voice. 

“I certainly do,” he said. 

Daddy grinned at him. “All right,” he 
said. “But you’d better start along or 
you won’t get back in time for supper.” 

Mother looked a little worried, but she 
put some sandwiches in James’s coat 
pocket and off he started. 

At first Laddie thought he would go 
too, but when he saw that little Lucia 
was left behind he ran back to stay with 
her. It was very hard for him to decide 
what to do sometimes and he would run 
back and forth quite distracted. But 
after all, he was little Lucia’s dog, and 
he felt he must look out for her. 


72 LITTLE LUCIA’S ISLAND CAMP, 

Brother James tramped off in the 
woods, whistling and slashing at the 
bushes with his big stick. He wanted 
very much to see Indian Head where 
that old Indian used to live all by him¬ 
self. 

The path grew rougher and began to 
climb up. The trees came so close together 
that James had to put his head down and 
bunt through them like a goat. 

“I guess it’s been a long time since any¬ 
one went over this trail,” panted James 
as he stood still for a minute to rest. 

A little red squirrel ran out on a branch 
and scolded him. 

“You look like Mr. Nutty,” said 
Brother James. “You better go down to 
the camp and say hullo to little Lucia.” 

Further along a rabbit hopped right 
across his path. 


THE TRAIL TO INDIAN HEAD 73 

“Lucky for you,” said Brother James, 
“that Lad didn’t come with me.” 

The trail passed close to a small pool 
full of big frogs who stuck their round 
eyes out of the water and made croaky 
remarks about James to each other. 
James tossed a pebble in the water and 
they stopped their talking and everyone 
dove for the bottom. 

Suddenly the trail came out of the dark 
woods into the sunshine. And there 
James stood on Indian Head. Blue sea 
dancing away out to the blue rim, little 
islands like green lily pads, and a few 
white sails slipping along. 

“No wonder the old Indian liked to 
live here,” said James, throwing himself 
down on the grass to rest. 

He pulled out his package of sand¬ 
wiches and ate them. Then he took a 


f4 LITTLE LUCIA’S ISLAND CAMP 
cool drink from the old Indian’s spring. 
Then he was ready to start back. 

“This was easy,” said Brother James. 
“I could have found this place if the trail 
had been twice as hard.” 

On the way back he began to look 
around more and enjoy the sights. Here 
he stopped to pick raspberries, there to 
hunt checkerberry leaves. Suddenly he 
heard a crackle in the brush and turned 
sharply to see the white stubby tail and 
flying heels of a young deer. 

“Well!” said Brother James, “that’s 
the nearest I ever saw a deer. I bet his 
mother is right in there too. Guess I’ll 
look around that clump of spruces.” 

The deer, of course, had not waited for 
James around the clump of spruces. He 
peered about and listened. Not a leaf 
moved, not a twig cracked. 


THE TRAIL TO INDIAN HEAD 75 
“No use chasing them,” said James, 
and turned to his path. 

But where had the trail gone? Surely 
it had been over here beyond the clump 
of spruces. James stood still and looked 
about him. Was it this clump of spruces 
or was it that clump of spruces? They 
looked very much alike. He ran to the 
other clump. No trail. He turned back. 
No trail. He pushed forward and found 
himself in dense underbrush. He tried to 
go around the underbrush and found steep 
rocks sliding down into a dark valley. 

Brother James felt very queer. It 
makes you feel very queer when you are 
lost in the woods. Something seems to go 
thump! thump! inside of you. You want 
to run, but you don’t know which way to 
go. You don’t know what to do! 

Brother James remembered how he had 


76 LITTLE LUCIA’S ISLAND CAMP 
told little Lucia that she could walk all 
day and still be on Moon Island. All 
day, and here was night coming! And 
he had eaten every one of his sandwiches. 
And they wanted to start for Sheep Island 
next morning. The more he thought, the 
more James wished that he had not been 
so sure about that trail. 

“I might as well keep on going,” de¬ 
cided James. “The sun is almost down 
already.” 

The deep woods grow dark very early 
and soon the shadows were thick about 
James. Mosquitoes buzzed around his 
head and stung his face. Briars scratched 
him. He stumbled over rocks and slipped 
in marshy spots. The thumping feel¬ 
ing in his stomach grew worse and 
worse. 

At last he stopped. 


THE TRAIL TO INDIAN HEAD 77 

‘‘This won’t do,” said Brother James. 
“Fm getting as scared as little Lucia, and 
I shall never find my way out by running 
around like this. I suppose I might as 
well make up my mind to stay in these 
woods all night.” 

He thought of how worried Mother 
would be and felt another thump inside 
of him. But then he shook himself and 
began to look around for a place where 
he could make a spruce bed. He wished 
that he had brought his sweater; the woods 
felt damp and cold. 

James had just got his jack-knife out 
and was beginning to cut off fir balsam 
boughs for a bed, when away off in the 
distance he heard a faint, “Row! row! 
row!” 

Down went his branches, up went his 
head. “Yoooo-hooo!” he yelled at the 


78 LITTLE LUCIA’S ISLAND CAMP 
top of his voice. “Yooo-hooo! Here, 
Laddie, Laddie, Laddie!” 

Nearer and nearer came the “Row! 
row! row!” Louder and louder shouted 
James. Then there was a great crashing 
through the brush, and then through the 
shadows hurtled Lad. He was going so 
fast that he flung himself up against 
James and nearly tipped him over. But 
James didn’t care. He didn’t mind when 
Laddie jumped all over him and licked his 
face and splashed mud on him; in fact, he 
liked it so much that if he hadn’t been 
thirteen years old—well, anyway, he was 
thirteen years old. 

So he got up and started off after Lad 
toward the hallooing that he could hear 
now in the distance. Before long Laddie 
had led him back to Dad, and all Dad 


THE TRAIL TO INDIAN HEAD 79 
said was, “Supper was getting cold so I 
thought I’d hurry you up a bit.” 

James said, “Sorry, Dad. I missed my 
way,” and that was all they said about it. 

But when they got back to camp and 
Brother James saw Mother’s face and 
felt little Lucia squeeze him as far around 
his waist as she could reach, he knew how 
worried they had been. If supper hadn’t 
been all ready, he would have felt very 
queer inside again. But after he had 
eaten one dozen pancakes, he felt better. 

Little Lucia had pulled her small camp- 
chair beside his middle-sized camp-chair. 
She rubbed her hand up and down his 
sweater sleeve. 

“We showed Laddie your sweater,” she 
whispered, “and told him to go find you. 
Wasn’t he a smart dog?” 


8o LITTLE LUCIA’S ISLAND CAMP 
James reached over and patted Laddie 
on his soft head. 

“I must say,” said Brother James, “that 
if Lad isn’t much of a sailor, he is a pretty 
good dog to take camping.” 


CHAPTER X 


SHEEP ISLAND CAMP 

N ext morning everybody v/as up 
early to get ready to move camp to 
Sheep Island. 

“I like it here very much,” said little 
Lucia, looking around at the cove with its 
high rocky sides. Then as the little trail 
of sandpipers whizzed past, “Maybe there 
won’t be any pipers on Sheep Island.” 

“Sandpipers everywhere,” said Daddy 
cheerfully. “And I have heard that 
Sheep Island is covered with delicious 
meadow mushrooms. You will like 
them!” 

So everybody began to fold up things, 
chairs and beds and tents and dishes. 

8l 


82 LITTLE LUCIA’S ISLAND CAMR 
All the waste papers were burned up and 
the fire covered with sand. 

“Now the beach looks as neat as a pin,” 
said Mother. “Just as clean as when we 
first arrived.” 

Chug! chug! Put—tut—tut—tut! out 
they went with the rocky cliffs echoing 
tut—tut—tut after them. Laddie was 
well tied to the cleat where all he could 
do was to bark. The day was soft and 
gray and cloudy and the water was 
smooth gray with white edges where they 
cut through it. 

“We may get rain tomorrow,” said 
Dad, looking at the sky. “But by that 
time we shall have our camp all settled 
on Sheep Island.” 

By noontime they reached the island, 
which was so small that it made scarcely a 
pin-head on the map. It was grass cov- 


SHEEP ISLAND CAMP 83 

ered with hardly a tree on it. Here and 
there little Lucia could see sheep grazing. 
There was no deep cove for landing, but 
at last Daddy found a sandy beach and 
he threw the anchor out. 

“We will have lunch first,” he said, 
“before we try to unpack.” 

Laddie felt that he had been sailing in 
the boat about long enough. He hadn’t 
had a chance for a good run the whole 
morning and he was ready for some fun. 
As soon as he got ashore he began to bark 
and race up and down the beach. 

The noise startled a sheep which was 
grazing near the bank and away she gal¬ 
loped. That was enough for Laddie. He 
had never seen a sheep before, but here 
was something which he could chase. 
Away he galloped, too. Little Lucia 
whistled, James called. Dad shouted. 


84 LITTLE LUCIA’S ISLAND CAME 
No use, Lad was making so much noise 
himself that he couldn’t hear anything. 
Anyway, he was too busy to pay attention. 

When one sheep does anything, all the 
other sheep do exactly the same thing. 
So pretty soon the island was covered with 
galloping sheep. The more sheep that 
Laddie could make gallop, the crazier he 
became. He raced back and forth, jump¬ 
ing at their heels, nipping their tails, and 
roaring. Row! row! row! He was hav¬ 
ing a good time. 

But the sheep weren’t. Dad and 
Mother and James and little Lucia tried 
everything to catch their tormentor. 
They ran, they whistled, they shouted, 
they threw sticks, but all they managed 
to do was to scare the sheep worse. And 
who could run as fast as Lad? 


SHEEP ISLAND CAMP 85 

At last he got his eye on one fat sheep 
that had started toward the shore. He 
left the others and raced after her. She 
ran straight ahead until she got to the 
bank. She looked behind her. Lad was 
coming! She looked ahead of her. 
Water! She gave a great leap and 
landed, all four legs close together, on a 
rock out in the water. 

Lad stopped short. There wasn’t room 
for a pebble besides the sheep on that rock. 
Anyway, he didn’t really like the idea of 
getting too close to one of these strange 
animals. 

Row! row! row! he yelled at the sheep 
and then he stopped. James had him 
fast by the collar. 

But the poor fat sheep who had jumped 
so far when she saw Lad coming, was 


86 LITTLE LUCIA’S ISLAND CAMP 
afraid to jump back again. She balanced 
on top of the rock, and looked down at the 
tide coming in around her. 

“Ah—ah—ah!” she cried, full of woe. 

Not until little Lucia had led Laddie 
away, and Dad and James had waded 
out to the rock, could the fat sheep be per¬ 
suaded to go ashore. And then she went 
so fast that she must have reached the 
other side of the island in about three 
minutes. 

“Yah! yah! yah!” she cried as she ran. 

“She sounds very mad,” said little 
Lucia, “and I don’t blame her. Make an 
old lady like her jump on such a rock! 
You should be ashamed. Laddie!” 

But Laddie was sorry for only one 
thing, that they wouldn’t let him help the 
fat sheep to run still faster across the 
island. 


SHEEP ISLAND CAMP 87 

They dragged him back to camp where 
everybody, including Laddie, sat and 
panted awhile. 

“Now what shall we do?” asked Mother 
when she could get her breath. “Just 
look at him already.” 

Lad, pulling at his leash, ears up, was 
peering over the edge of the bank at the 
poor silly sheep, all ready to start them 
off on another gallop. 

“Collies are sheep dogs,” suggested 
James. “He just needs training.” 

“Well,” said Daddy, “as I said be¬ 
fore, my vacation isn’t to be spent 
training dogs. There would be no 
peace for anybody on this island. Off 
we go.” 

Just then a big drop of rain hit little 
Lucia square on the nose. 

“Daddy!” she cried, “it’s raining!” 


88 LITTLE LUCIA’S ISLAND CAMP 

“And look!” James pointed out to sea. 
“Here comes the fog!” 

Sure enough, a big bank of white fog 
was rolling in toward them. 

Mother shook her head. 

“Here we must stay,” she said, “until 
it clears.” 

They looked at Laddie, who was watch¬ 
ing the sheep disappear in the white fog. 
They all shook their heads. 

Then they hurried around to get un¬ 
packed before it rained any harder. 
When the tents were up, the fog was so 
thick that they could not even see the 
motor boat just off the shore. By the time 
the flaps were fastened, it was raining 
hard. 

Dad had an extra tent fly to shelter the 
camp stove, which he placed close to the 
tent door. For rainy weather he had 


SHEEP ISLAND CAMP 89 

brought along an alcohol heater. Soon 
bacon and eggs were sizzling over the fire 
and they were all cozy and dry under the 
tent while the rain dripped on the roof 
overhead. When little Lucia peered out 
of the crack in the tent flap, all she could 
see was thick white fog. 

“I must say,” said Dad, sniffing, “that I 
wouldn’t choose a wet day to keep Lad 
tied in the tent, but here he must stay.” 

And there he had to stay all that day 
and the next, though James and little 
Lucia took him for walks up and down 
the beach. But what fun was there in 
marching up and down a beach tied to a 
leash? Especially when he could hear 
the sheep moving around up there in the 
fog. If you think Laddie liked Sheep 
Island, you don’t know at all how he felt. 

Nobody else liked it much, either. Dad 


90 LITTLE LUCIA’S ISLAND CAMP 
found three mushrooms, and that was all. 
He said the sheep had eaten them up. 
James didn’t care about taking long 
walks because you couldn’t see anything, 
and because even if the island was small, 
fog was easier to get lost in than woods. 
Little Lucia liked to hear the drip, drip, 
drip of the rain at night on the roof so 
close to her head, but she got tired of it 
in the daytime. And both day and night 
the mosquitoes bit everybody. 

At the end of the second day, a fresh 
breeze came out of the north. 

“Hurrah!” cried Dad. “It’s clearing 
off!” 

The fog peeled back, the sky and the 
water began to turn blue again, and by 
sundown the little new moon shone clear 
as silver in the west. 


SHEEP ISLAND CAMP 


91 

Everybody, including Laddie, could 
hardly wait to get started in the morning. 

“Where shall we go?” asked James, 
getting out the maps and charts. 

Nobody said a word. 

“Where shall we go?” repeated James, 
looking up from his maps and charts. 

They all looked at little Lucia. 

“I know,” she said. 

“Where?” asked Mother. 

“Back to our cove on Moon Island,” 
pleaded little Lucia. 

“There is a good harbor for the boat 
there,” said Dad. “If the wind had 
blown here, our boat might have come 
ashore.” 

“Moon Island has good spring water,” 
said Mother. “This tastes queer.” 

“It has plenty of driftwood,” said 


92 LITTLE LUCIA’S ISLAND CAMP 
James, ‘‘and here we couldn’t have any 
fire at all if it weren’t for our alcohol 
stove.” 

“There aren’t any mosquitoes on Moon 
Island cove,” said little Lucia, “and I 
haven’t seen a single sandpiper here.” 

So they folded up all their chairs and 
beds and tents and dishes and sailed back 
to Moon Island. 

Chug! chug! Put-tut-tut! said the 
motor boat to the high cliffs of the cove. 
And tut-tut-tut echoed the high cliffs back. 
Row! row! row! shouted Laddie and he 
leaped overboard before the boat landed, 
he was so glad to get back. 

Peek! peek! peek! called the sandpipers 
from the beach. Even the green shade of 
the trees seemed friendly after barren 
Sheep Island. 

When they were all settled once more. 


SHEEP ISLAND CAMP 93 

little Lucia pulled her small camp-chair 
to the door of her tent and looked out at 
the blue cove shining in the sun. 

“Let’s stay here till we have to go 
back,” she said. 

And they did. 


CHAPTER XI 


OUT ON A MOONLIGHT NIGHT 

ITTLE Lucia woke suddenly from a 



J—i sound sleep. She sat up in her cot 
and looked about her. All was still and 
dark in the tent. 

‘1 thought I heard a queer noise,” she 
said to herself, “but I must have been 
dreaming.” 

Through the tent flap she could see the 
cove shining like silver in the moonlight. 
Not a breath of wind stirred it. Down 
went her brown head on the pillow again 
and her brown eyes began to take long 
winks. 

Gr-rumph! gr-rumph! roo-ah! roo-ah! 


94 


OUT ON A MOONLIGHT NIGHT 95 
roo-ah! the roaring filled the tent. This 
time James sat up in bed too and Lad 
jumped out from under little Lucia’s cot. 

“Oh, what is it, Brother James'?” cried 
little Lucia, her eyes as big as saucers. 
“It sounds like lions and tigers out in the 
water.” 

“I don’t know,” said Brother James, 
“but I’ll find out.” 

“No! no!” cried little Lucia, “they 
might eat you.” 

“Nonsense,” said Brother James, for 
the noise had stopped. 

Just then Daddy’s voice came sleepily 
out of his tent. 

“Nothing but the seals, children,” he 
called. “Guess they are having a moon¬ 
light picnic in the cove.” 

Little Lucia hopped out of bed and ran 
to the tent door. 


96 LITTLE LUCIA’S ISLAND CAMP. 

“Oh! oh! oh! Seals, James, seals! 
Did you ever see one in your life, Brother 
James?” 

“No, I never did,” said Brother James, 
“but I am going to now,” and he put on 
his sneakers and rolled up his pajama 
legs. 

“Me too!” said little Lucia. “I am 
going to see one now,” and she began to 
hunt for her sneakers while she rolled up 
her pajama legs. 

“Now, little Lucia,” said Brother 
James, “I may have to go way out on the 
rocks to see them, and it is too dark for 
you to go, and you are too little.” 

Little Lucia had found her sneakers 
and she put them on. 

“I am five and a half years old now,” 
she said, “and it’s bright moonlight, and 
anyway—” her voice sounded quavery 


OUT ON A MOONLIGHT NIGHT 97 
all at once over in her dark corner, “any¬ 
way I want to see the seals.” 

Brother James hesitated at the tent 
door. 

“If you go, Lad will have to go, and 
he will scare away the seals before any¬ 
body can see them.” 

Click, he heard Laddie’s leash snap into 
his collar. 

“He never acts bad when I have him on 
the leash,” pleaded little Lucia’s voice. 
“Laddie never saw a seal, either.” 

“All right.” Brother James stalked 
out of the tent. 

Little Lucia with Laddie close beside 
her paddled along behind. Nobody said 
a word. The seals were perfectly quiet. 

“Guess they’re gone,” growled James. 
“Might as well go back,” and he started 
to stalk back to the tent. 


98 LITTLE LUCIA’S ISLAND CAMP 

Then he heard little Lucia’s voice very 
soft. 

“Wait a minute, Brother James. I see 
them! I see them!” 

He turned and looked out on the rocks 
where little Lucia was pointing. There 
in the moonlight on the rocks they could 
see some big black things balanced like 
boats with their tails curled up in the 
air. 

“Good enough!” Brother James forgot 
to be cross. “We can get out there easily 
and have a close look at them.” 

Quietly they crept along over the rocks 
in their sneakers and quietly Laddie crept 
beside them with his soft pads. Nearer 
and nearer they came to the rocks where 
the seals balanced. At last they could see 
the wet gleaming sides and funny dog 
faces. 



ncnjSluTuOid Urit^VT 

Nearer and nearer they came to the rocks where the seals 
balanced. 






V 


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( 


I 


V 


■y'» 

t I . 


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V 



4 




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1 




OUT ON A MOONLIGHT NIGHT 99 

“I hope they won’t roar again,” thought 
little Lucia. “It would scare me most to 
death with them so near.” 

But not a sound did they make. Sud¬ 
denly, plump, the biggest, blackest seal 
slipped from his rock into the shining 
water and was gone. Plump, another 
slipped after him, and then another, and 
another. Nothing was left but water 
all broken up into silver ripples. 

“Sit down,” whispered James. “They 
saw us.” 

The children crawled behind a rock. 
Lad lay down at their feet. Soon wet 
gleaming heads began to bob out of the 
water again. 

“I wish I could swim under water as 
long as that,” breathed James. 

Suddenly little Lucia nudged James so 
hard that he nearly tipped over. 


loo LITTLE LUCIA’S ISLAND CAMP 

“Oh, look!” she whispered, “right 
there! A mother seal and her babies.” 

James peered around the rock. There, 
so near that they could see their round 
eyes shine, were a big seal lying on a rock 
with her tail curled up in the air, and 
two small seals lying beside her with their 
little tails curled up in the air. The 
smallest one looked quite white in the 
moonlight. 

Little Lucia was enchanted with them. 

“I’m going nearer,” she said. “Maybe 
the white baby would let me touch 
it.” 

Before James could stop her, she was 
out from behind their shelter. Plump, 
the mother seal was in the water. Plump, 
plump, the two baby seals were after her. 
Plump, plump, plump, all around them, 
and in two minutes the rocks were empty. 


OUT ON A MOONLIGHT NIGHT loi 
Only silver ripples to tell where the seals 
had gone. 

Little Lucia stood still in a pool almost 
up to the edge of her pajama legs and 
stared out at the shining water. Her big 
brown eyes looked almost ready to cry. 

“I scared them away,” she said. 

“Never mind,” said Brother James, 
taking her hand and starting back toward 
the camp. “You found them in the first 
place and you saw the mother seal and 
her babies. I shouldn’t have seen them 
at all.” 

Little Lucia felt comforted and waded 
out of her puddle. 

“Perhaps they will come back. Brother 
James.” 

Gr-rumph! gr-rumph! roo-ah! roo-ah! 
Already they were far down the shore. 
Little Lucia shivered. 


102 LITTLE LUCIA’S ISLAND CAMP 

“I’m glad they didn’t holler in my 
ears,” she said. “Now could I let Laddie 
off his leash?” 

“Sure,” said Brother James. “He was 
a good dog.” 

Laddie thought so too, and away he 
dashed for a little exercise before he went 
back to the tent. They could hear him 
running along the wood path at the edge 
of the bank. 

Suddenly out of the trees on the edge 
of the bank clumped a fat, waddly 
creature. 

“Well, little Lucia, upon my word! 
If here isn’t a porcupine,” cried Brother 
James. “I haven’t seen one since I made 
my Porcupine Preventer at home.” 

Now Laddie had never seen a porcu¬ 
pine at all. And when the fat, waddly 
creature clumped out on the bank, he fol- 


OUT ON A MOONLIGHT NIGHT 103 
lowed. Perhaps he could make it gallop 
the way he did the sheep. 

“Lad!” called James sharply, “come 
here! Quick!” 

But too late! The porcupine had wad¬ 
dled as far as it wanted to, and it stopped 
short. Up raced Lad and took a sniff at 
the prickly tail. 

“Ee! ee! ee!” The cliffs rang and 
echoed with poor Laddie’s squeals and 
whimpers. He ran to James, trying to 
rub his nose on the ground. 

James seized his head. 

“You’ll only dig the spines into your 
nose if you do that,” he said. “Why 
didn’t you mind?” 

But though he sounded very cross, he 
hurried Laddie back to the tent as fast as 
he could. 

Little Lucia ran behind. She remem- 


104 LITTLE LUCIA’S ISLAND CAMP 
bered well those cruel spines with their 
fish-hook barbs. And now her Laddie had 
some stuck in his nose, and maybe they 
would never come out. Oh, dear! oh, 
dear! 

At the tent they found Mother in her 
bathrobe. She had heard Lad’s squeals 
and knew something was wrong. In a 
minute James had told her what had hap¬ 
pened. In another minute Mother had 
the candle lighted and Daddy’s pliers 
from his tool case. 

“Now stand still. Lad,” she said in her 
nice, soothing voice. 

Poor Laddie knew that she was going 
to help him and he tried to stand still, but 
ee! ee! ee! how it hurt him when the pliers 
seized a barb. Little Lucia put her arm 
around him on one side and Brother James 
around the other, and ee! ee! ee! out came 


OUT ON A MOONLIGHT NIGHT 105 
the spines one at a time. Oh! oh! oh! 
and ee! ee! ee! At last they were all 
out. 

Then Mother put some Arabian Balsam 
on the poor sore nose, though Laddie 
licked it off once, and everybody went 
back to bed. 

Little Lucia stayed awake until she was 
sure that Laddie had gone to sleep. But 
after all, the spines had not been in long 
enough to do much harm, and in a few 
minutes she could hear him under her cot, 
breathing deeply, sound asleep. 

“He’s all right now. Brother James, 
whispered little Lucia. 

“That’s good,” said Brother James, ana 
little Lucia could hear him turning over 
in his dark corner. 

“He didn’t mean to be naughty,” whis> 
pered little Lucia. 


io6 LITTLE LUCIA’S ISLAND CAMP 
“I suppose not,” said Brother James, 
with a big yawn. “But I must say he gets 
along better with seals than he does with 
porcupines.” 


CHAPTER XII 


THE TRIP HOME 

D ADDY’S vacation was almost over 
when one morning James rowed 
back with the milk and reported that the 
farmer said a nor’easter was brewing. 

“What’s that^” asked little Lucia 
anxiously. 

“It is a storm where the wind blows 
from the northeast,” said Mother, and she 
looked anxious too. 

“And it pours rain and the waves come 
roaring in,” added James. “I’d like to 
see those waves.” 

“Well, I shouldn’t,” said Daddy. “Not 
here. And since we have to go in a few 

107 


io8 LITTLE LUCIA’S ISLAND CAMP 
days anyway, I think weTI start right now 
before the storm gets here/’ 

Little Lucia looked at the cove. It was 
no longer a bright patch of blue. It was 
slaty gray and already small waves were 
rolling in from outside. She began to 
fold up her rug. 

“Do you think we might come back 
again next summer, Daddy?” she asked. 

“I do,” said Daddy, pulling up a tent 
stake. 

Then everybody began to fold up 
things, chairs and beds and tents and 
dishes. Papers burned up, sand on the 
fire, everything as neat as a pin. All this 
packing up took some time and when they 
made the last trip out to the motor boat, 
the waves rocked them about a good deal. 
Daddy looked outside the cove at the 
whitecaps. 


THE TRIP HOME 109 

'‘Guess weTl put the spray hood on 
before we start,” he said. 

So he and James unrolled the little 
canvas tent to keep the spray from 
dashing into the boat. They fastened 
it down along the deck. Then they all 
put on their oilskin slickers and oil 
hats. 

“I wish Laddie had his rubber coat here 
that he got last Christmas,” said little 
Lucia. “He’ll get very wet.” 

“Tie him up so that he won’t tip over¬ 
board,” advised Dad, “or he will get a 
good deal wetter.” 

Mother took the tiller ready to steer, 
James pulled up the anchor. Daddy rolled 
up the engine wheel, and chug! chug! 
put-tut-tut! They were off. Tut-tut- 
tut! echoed the rocky cliffs, and row! row! 
row! shouted Laddie. The sandpipers, 


no LITTLE LUCIA’S ISLAND CAME 
gray as the water, flew past in a line, call¬ 
ing peek! peek! peek! 

Out of the cove away from the shelter 
of the cliffs, the wind blew stronger. The 
waves began to splash against the sides of 
the motor boat. 

‘T don’t know about this,” said Mother, 
looking anxious. “Do you think we had 
better go on?” 

“Oh, I think so,” said Dad. “It isn’t 
a long run and this is a very good boat.” 

“Oh, yes. Mother,” cried James. “A 
little spray won’t hurt us, and anyway 
we never could unpack everything again.” 

“I like the waves,” said little Lucia, 
her brown eyes very bright under her yel¬ 
low oilskin hat. “It’s like going up and 
down in my swing.” 

But Laddie didn’t like them. He 
didn’t like the looks of them rolling up 


THE TRIP HOME in 

white-edged toward him and he didn’t 
like the feeling of them. It was too much 
like the elevator. He began to look de¬ 
jected. Then he sat down as if he were 
very tired. Then he lay down on the 
floor. But nothing helped. He looked 
sadder and sadder. The engine might 
have chugged its top off and he wouldn’t 
have barked once. 

“What makes Laddie so quiet?” asked 
little Lucia, patting his head to comfort 
him. 

“Seasick!” chuckled Brother James. 
“I told you he wasn’t much of a sailor.” 

“Oh, poor Laddie!” cried little Lucia, 
and Laddie rolled unhappy eyes at her. 
“Now, James, don’t you laugh at him. 
He doesn’t like to be laughed at even 
when he feels well.” 

James chuckled still more. 


112 LITTLE LUCIA’S ISLAND CAMP 

“He doesn’t care whether you laugh or 
cry now,” he said. “He’s a great sailor.” 

But pretty soon James began to look 
dejected. He looked sadder and sadder. 
Though his tan was very brown indeed, 
he still looked pale under it. Mother 
gave Dad the tiller a minute, and folded 
a rug on the long seat. Brother James 
stretched out on it. 

“Guess I’ll take a little nap,” he said. 
“I didn’t get much sleep last night.” 

On they went, up and down with long 
swoops, sideways with short slaps. Some¬ 
times the motor boat tried to go both ways 
at once, little Lucia thought. She loved 
it. It made her want to sing loud and 
high. But she was afraid she might wake 
up Laddie and James who lay still with 
eyes closed tight. 

“Fifteen minutes more and we shall be 


THE TRIP HOME 113 

safe in our own harbor,” shouted Daddy 
cheerfully. 

James opened his eyes and shut them 
again. 

“I’m still sleepy,” he said. Laddie 
wagged his tail once. 

Splish! splash! the waves dashed 
around and over the spray hood. The 
water stung little Lucia’s cheeks and ran 
down over her slicker. Under her drip¬ 
ping hat she looked as gay as a dandelion. 

“I like it, don’t you. Mother?” called 
out little Lucia to Mother, who sat there 
steering, all dripping and rosy too. 

“Pretty well,” laughed Mother. “But 
I’ll be glad to see the snug harbor in fif¬ 
teen minutes.” 

Just then the engine coughed and 
stopped short. Laddie opened one eye. 
Mother stopped laughing and looked 


114 LITTLE LUCIA’S ISLAND CAMP 
anxious. Daddy disappeared down be¬ 
hind the engine. 

Cough! cough! little Lucia could hear 
the wheel roll up, but no smooth chug, 
chug followed. 

Little Lucia peered out around the 
spray hood. 

“Oh! oh! Daddy!” she cried, “the wind 
is blowing us on to the buoy!” 

Out popped Daddy’s head from the 
engine. Sure enough, the wind and waves 
were rushing them straight on to the big 
steamer buoy. Mother pushed the tiller 
over as far as she could, but the boat 
wouldn’t steer when the engine stopped. 

Brother James heard little Lucia’s 
scream. He sat up on his bench. When 
he saw the great heavy buoy bearing 
down on them, he sprang for the boat 
hook. Before Dad could leave his en- 


THE TRIP. HOME 115 

gine, James, flat on his stomach on the 
deck, had shoved the boat away from the 
buoy just as it was about to pitch into it. 

Mother seized him by the heels and 
pulled him back. Just then, chug! chug! 
tut-tut-tut! went the engine, and they 
were safely off. Brother James slammed 
down the boat hook and seized the tiller 
which Mother had left. He looked as 
brown as ever and not a bit sleepy. 

“My goodness!” he shouted. “That 
was a narrow squeak!” 

Mother took the tiller. “Don’t you 
want to lie down again?” she asked. 

“I should say not,” said Brother James. 
“I feel fine.” 

He looked at Laddie who hadn’t opened 
one eye in all the excitement, but he 
didn’t even smile. “Poor Lad!” he said. 

In sixteen minutes they could see their 


n6 LITTLE LUCIA’S ISLAND CAMP 
own mooring. In two more they were 
tied up to it. 

Back and forth went the rowboat with 
chairs and tents and cots and dishes. 
The cans of food in the cupboards were 
all gone. 

On the very first trip ashore, went 
Laddie. He stood on the beach and 
stretched first his front legs, then his hind 
legs. 

“Ow! ow!” he said. “What a trip!” 

But by the time they were unloaded 
and ready to start up to the house, he felt 
better. He pranced along beside them, 
nipping at baskets and suitcases and 
barking, “rah! rah! rah!” 

At the door of the house stood fat cook, 
her arms all flour from the raisin cookies 
she had just put in the oven. Over in 
the trees by the hammocks. Nutty whisked 


THE TRIP HOME 117 

his long tail and chattered his alarm 
clock. And little Lucia thought she saw 
a brown thrush fly across from the wood. 

They ran in the house and shut the 
door on the blustering wind. A big fire 
roared up in the fireplace, the cookies 
smelled brown and buttery from the 
kitchen. Little Lucia untied her oilskin 
hat and dropped off her wet slicker. 

'‘We had the nicest camp in the world/’ 
she said, "but I am glad to be home 
again.” 































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